Programme News
11 July 2008
(Press release)
UNHCR has noticed some disturbing developments with the pattern of displacement from Zimbabwe following the March general elections and accelerating since the 27 June presidential run-off vote, with more refugees crossing the border into South Africa seeking asylum. Previously, most Zimbabweans crossing the border were single men (about 90 percent) or women seeking work. We are now seeing...
1 July 2008
(News)
LHR’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme is seeking a lawyer with human rights experience in its Musina office in Limpopo.
Key responsibilities:
monitoring of the deportation process and the treatment of detainees who held pending deportation to Zimbabwe;
Legal assistance to asylum seekers and migrant workers in that region; ·
Liaise with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees...
27 June 2008
(Press release)
NEWS RELEASE FROM LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – 26 JUNE 2008
The Pretoria High Court today ordered the Department of Home Affairs to release a group of Zimbabwean asylum seekers who are unlawfully detained at the Lindela immigration detention centre. Lawyers for Human Rights brought this application on behalf of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum and 33 political asylum seekers who were arrested...
20 June 2008
(Press release)
In commemoration of World Refugee Day, Lawyers forHuman Rights calls on government and the South African citizenry to observe aday of reflection and mourning for victims of the recent xenophobic attackswhich have plagued our country. The wave of xenophobic violence andanti-foreigner sentiment is not a new phenomenon in South Africa and it isunlikely that this xenophobic sentiment will come to an...
2 June 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), in collaboration with the Johannesburg Central Methodist Church and Medecins Sans Frontieres (‘MSF'), will launch an urgent application for an interim interdict to prevent the transfer of displaced foreigners from the Jeppestown and Cleveland police stations to a temporary shelter in Vickers Road pending an order that will ensure the safety of the displaced...
16 May 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is concerned that victims of xenophobic attacks in and around Gauteng Province continue to be arrested and detained by members of the South African Police Service. These arrests continue despite a commitment by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that victims of xenophobic attacks will not be deported, but will be assisted and protected from such attacks...
23 April 2008
(News)
DESPITE the denials by President Thabo Mbeki and Home Affairs Minister Novisiwe Mapisa-Nqakula, there is a crisis in Zimbabwe; one that threatens to further displace the Zimbabwean people. Both have stated that there is no crisis that warrants any policy or intervention on the part of the government regarding the numbers of people crossing the SA-Zimbabwe border. This intransigent view on the...
3 March 2008
(News)
A blind father has finally been reunited with his nine-month-old daughter after a bitter legal battle.
And now lawyers want the courts to prevent social workers from taking children away from their biological parents on flimsy grounds.
The girl was taken away from her father in November last year, shortly after her mother's funeral.
The father, who can't be named to protect the child, looked...
11 February 2008
(News)
HUMAN rights issues concerning refugees,immigrants and exiles needed urgent action at all three levels of government,experts said last week during a panel discussion at Wits University. The discussion dealt with the police raid onimmigrants at the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg on January31, as well as the country's immigration policy. The panel highlighted the lack of...
31 January 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) condemns the unlawful and heavy handed police raid on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg on the 31st January 2008. The raid appeared to be directed at vulnerable homeless persons and persons seeking asylum and sanctuary at the Central Methodist Church.
Many of those arrested are asylum seekers from Zimbabwe who left their country due to ongoing political...